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IS JAPAN A BURNING MENACE 
TO THE WORLD'S PEACE? 

By 

F. C. SZE 

University of Wisconsin 

The Students' Strike — An Explanation 

China's Official Appeal to the United 
States Senate 



Compliments of 

The Publicity Bureau of the Chinese Students 

in the 

University of Illinois 



N0 2 August 7, 1919 

Itoofraph 



Is Japan A Burning Menace to the 
World's Peace? 



i 

This leaflet addresses itself to the task of answering the query 
already uppermost even in the mind of a Chinese schoolboy: "Is 
Japan a burning menace to the world's peace?'* In order to answer 
that question intelligently, we must get at the cold, stubborn facts 
of history instead of juggling with "official statements" and diplo- 
matic fictions; for whether Japan is one or not is. largely a question 
of fact and hardly a question of opinion or belief, of Japanese denials 
and Chinese affirmations, or of approval and disapproval by a preju- 
diced onlooker. Let us therefore face our task candidly — let us, nay, 
resolve to look this question squarely in the face! — and endeavor to 
frame such an answer as would occur to an impartial observer of 
v/orld politics. 

For fear that the purpose of this paper may still be wrongly 
interpreted, the writer feels it necessary to insist strongly at the 
outset that this is an enquiry, not a propaganda. If the conclusion 
to be reached turns out to be somewhat positive and startling (even 
perhaps to none but the writer himself!), the wish has none the 
less nowhere been father to the thought. 

II 

But first of all, let it be remembered that what is now called the 
"Chino-Japanese question" is no longer a local Far Eastern problem, 
it has already become a world problem which has to be faced and 
solved justly or else there can be, there will be no lasting peace on 
this bustling planet. The Great War of 1914-19 has revealed, among 
other things, the fact that "the world for the first time," in the words 
of Prof. John Dewey, "now finds itself a round world, politically and 
economically as well as astronomically." It goes without saying that 
what permanently injures China must in the end also injure the 
whole world. 

It occurred to me some years ago that China and Japan, being 
of a kindred race, ought to be able to get along amicably together. 
Their relations are essentially those of the lips to the teeth. "De- 
stroy the lips," to use the famous Chinese metaphor, "and the teeth 
are cold." Why then all this fuss and flare up between China and 
Japan, you may ask? The reason is not difficult to find as it used 
to be; nor will it appear a bit bewildering when found. The under- 
lying fact lies in the fundamental difference between their traditions 

2 



Autko- 









and institutions. The democratic character of one stands opposed 
to the bureaucratic nature of the other, just as the peace-loving Chinese 
are antagonistic to the militaristic Japanese. 

No one knows better than the Japanese themselves the close 
similarity between Japan and Germany, which accounts for "a good 
deal of pro-German sentiment in Japan," in Kawakami's phraseology. 
According to Prof. W. W. Willoughby, Japanese institutions and tra- 
ditions are admittedly copied from those of Prussia, while their poli- 
tical philosophy and practices have been strikingly similar to those 
of that "damnable country." It is therefore not too much to say that 
modern Japan has been "made in Germany." To put it differently, 
Japan is the spoiled child of German miltarism and imperialism. 
It is the most significant irony in the World War that Japan, the 
only autocratic Power now on this democratized earth, fought (or 
rather fooled) on the side of the Allies. 

To return to the characteristic dissimilarity between China and 
Japan. In spite of their racial kith and kin, or the "likeness of kind" 
as Prof. Giddings would call it, and in spite of their "geographical 
propinquity," they stand today as far apart from each other as never 
before in the history of the world. The present antagonism seems 
to point that their interests repel each other as strenuously as two 
like poles in electricity. It is their unlikeness of mind which is at 
the base of all this strife and contention. With this mental back- 
ground in distinct relief, we shall proceed to give a brief historical 
resume of Japan's imperialistic career in the Far East. 

Ill 

The story of the rise of Japan from a lowly pigmy to a powerful 
giant elicits a shuddering admiration. It was in 1894-5 that she 
embarked upon her aggressive policy towards China and launched her 
"Plan of State." Upon the conclusion of the Chino-Japanese War, 
Japan wrested Formosa and Pescadores from China besides saddling 
her with an indemnity far exceeding its cost. In 1905-6 she fought 
Russia for the avowed purpose of maintaining the independence and 
territorial integrity of Korea; but in 1910 she swallowed the Hermit 
Kingdom to form a part of greater Japan. At the outbreak of the 
Great War in 1914, she at once butted in as a belligerent ostensibly 
on account of the Anglo- Japanese alliance. Ambassador Ishii, unlike 
most of her statesmen, frankly denied this obligation. An ultimatum 
was sent to Germany to evacuate Kiaochow and to surrender posses- 
sion to the Japanese with a view to the eventual return of the terri- 
tory to China. What was most outrageous was the fact that she 
violated China's neutrality by landing troops on the northern coast 
of the Shantung peninsula in spite of China's repeated protests; and 
the excuse she offered was the German dictum: "necessity knows no 
law." Not content with military occupation of the railways extending 



to Tsinanfu, more than 250 miles distant from the object of her 
expedition, Japan openly disregarded the territorial sovereignty of 
China and instituted civil government at various points along the 
railway line, and even at the capital of the province. 

While Europe's hands were thus tied by the war, Japan seized 
the "golden opportunity" in 1915 and thrust upon China the famous 
or infamous Twenty-one Demands and threatened her with war in 
order "to bring closer the friendly relations subsisting between Japan 
and China!" Space does not permit us to review the scope of these 
demands, but certain of their general characteristics and of the 
circumstances attending their presentation, as set forth succinctly 
by Prof. W. W. Willoughby, may be noted. 

"1. In the first place the demands were presented directly to 
Yuan Shih-Kai, the President of the Republic, and not through the 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs as ordinary diplomatic usage would have 
required. Yuan was told that he must not divulge the fact that de- 
mands had been presented to him, and he was given to understand 
that if he acceded to them, he might be assured of Japanese aid in 
the promotion of his own ambitions, but that if he did not accede, 
the Japanese government would not hold itself responsible for acts 
that might be taken against him by disaffected parties who as he 
knew, were to be found in both China and Japan. 

"2. These demands, if they had been fully granted by China, 
would have made China virtually a dependency of Japan, and have 
been in flagrant violation of the treaty rights of other Powers 
in China. Especially was this true of the now famous "fifth group," 
into which the demands of a general and comprehensive character 
were gathered. So strong in the end became foreign pressure that 
Japan consented, not to abandon, but to postpone this fifth group of 
demands for future discussion — a status which they still retain. 

"3. The 21 demands were, for the most part, not in settlement 
of previously pending controversies between China and Japan, and 
they were not advanced on the ground that Japan had suffered wrongs 
from China for which compensation was due; nor were there any 
treaty or other promises obligating China to surrender the important 
rights that were demanded. The only justification put forward at 
the time by Japan was that the arrangement proposed would pro- 
mote peace and good will between the two countries. In short, the 
demands were nothing more than a list of Japan's wants presented 
at a time when China was helpless and the other treaty Powers 
not in a position effectively to object. 

"4. When, notwithstanding the injunction of secrecy, it became 
rumored that certain demands upon China had been made by Japan, 
the Japanese diplomatic officials denied the fact. When it became no 
longer possible to maintain this mendacious denial, the Japanese 
Government officially supplied the other treaty Powers with what 
purported to be a list of the demands — a list which it presently ap- 
peared omitted some of the most important and drastic features. 

"5. Finally, Japan, after somewhat revising her demands and 
postponing, as has been said, the Fifth Group for future discussion, 
issued an ultimatum couched in the most unequivocal terms, and at 
the same time took steps to strengthen her military forces in China, 
'It is hereby declared,' the ultimatum ran, 'that if no satisfactory 

4 



reply is received before or at the specified time, the Imperial Govern- 
ment will take such steps as they deem necessary.' China was thus 
given no option: she had to yield, and as a result treaties were drawn 
up and signed, embodying the demands that had been made. And 
it is upon these treaties that Japan has chiefly relied before the 
Paris Peace Conference in support of her claims to rights in the 
province of Shantung." 

Such are the significant facts. Regarding recent occurrences, 
Prof. Willoughby has at least this much more to tell: — 

"It is not too strong a statement to say that Japan's record 
with regard to China has been uniformly, since 1906, an oppressive 
and immoral one, glossed over by repeated assertions of friendliness, 
but controlled by the determination to demoralize China and thus 
provide an opportunity as well as an excuse to increase Japan's 
political influence and control in that country. Japan can point to 
no single act on her part that has been affirmatively and disinterest- 
edly helpful to China. On the contrary, in South Manchuria and 
Shantung, where her control has been predominant, she has per- 
mitted extensive smuggling in fraud of the Chinese revenues and 
to the prejudice of fair competition with the other Powers trading 
with China; she has allowed the importation and sale of morphia 
in large quantities, in many cases with the open aid of her consuls, 
from which large profits have accrued to herself and infinite injury 
to the Chinese people; she has exported from China, contrary to 
Chinese law, enormous quantities of copper "cash"; she is the one 
nation that has arbitrarily refused to allow the Chinese customs 
authorities to examine postal parcels sent into China from Japan 
through the post offices which she maintains in China; she alone, 
during the war, prevented China from taking steps similar to those 
taken by other nations of the world to conserve her supply of silver; 
in the tariff revision commission which was recently held at Shang- 
hai to re-value goods for customs purposes, it was her representa- 
tives who made it especially difficult to secure for China the effective 
5% ad valorem duties which, under treaties, she is entitled to levy; 
in many well-established cases in Shantung, through her control of 
the railways and railway zones, she checked the efforts of the Chi- 
nese authorities to suppress the brigandage which is prevalent in 
that province; and, through the importation of arms and munitions 
and the many loans which her bankers have made during the last 
three years, she has knowingly made possible the continuance of 
the strife that has devastated so many of the provinces and made im- 
possible the institution of administrative and financial reforms in 
China." 

This imposing array of Japanese atrocities in China should be 
sufficient to convince any one of Japan's real intentions and aspi- 
rations in the Far East. The world should no longer be kept ignorant 
of her aggressive policy toward her unoffending neighbor. The con- 
tinuance of such a reckless course is bound to jeopardize the peace, 
not only of the Far East, but also of the world. 

With the ushering-in of a new international order under the 
League of Nations, the time has come to call a halt to the "let's 
grab" policy pursued by foreign nations, notably Germany and Japan, 
in China. True, England, France and Russia have also played the 
"game of grab," to use Mr. Ku Hung-Ming's apt phrase; but what 

5 



Germany did in 1898 and Japan did in 1915 has passed beyond all 
precedent. China now pleads before the world to be let alone, to 
be allowed free opportunities to develop herself; for it is only a free, 
powerful China that can safeguard the world's peace in the Far East. 

IV 

Caiiyle writes: "Shams are all and sundry of the devil, and 
poisonous and unendurable to man." It is high time that the sham 
of the so-called Japanese Monroe Doctrine be exploded. Difficult 
as it is in these days to talk about such an elusive thing as the 
American Monroe Doctrine without incurring the risk of misstate- 
ment, there can be no doubt that it has had as its foundation the 
protection of the American continent from the dangerous military 
movements of autocratic governments. There is a distinctly altruistic 
and beneficent note in such a doctrine. Viewed in this light, the 
Jap-ized doctrine is veritably a nightmare. Instead of telling the world 
in plain everyday language what it means, the Japanese statesmen 
and publicists are continuously talking Japanese to the West as if 
the world could thus be fooled. 

The crux of the matter is this: The Japanese doctrine is just 
the antithesis of the American doctrine. True, the outer shell looks 
the same, but the meat is entirely different. Japan has clearly 
revealed her intention to keep Korea and China for selfish, corrupt 
and immoral exploitation regardless of the interests of other na- 
tions or of the welfare of her Asiatic neighbors. Pan-Japanism 
is the real keynote of the Japanese doctrine. Japan is already play- 
ing the tune of "Nippon Ueber Alles" in the Far East. If Japan's 
formula for the world's peace is her hegemony over Asia, then 
Japan constitutes a grave menace to the peace of the nations inter- 
ested in China and the struggling Republic herself. A pax Japonica 
could not be a stable peace. In that direction lies war, and the 
ultimate defeat of Japan's pretensions. Nor is the way for peace 
to be found in the perpetuation of the existing status quo, as has 
been indicated above, but in reform and development of China into 
a powerful modern state capable of dealing with other great na- 
tions on terms of equality. 

In propagating their Asiatic Monroe Doctrine, the Japanese na- 
turally paint China to be another Mexico. This cannot but provoke 
a smile. They also insinuate that the Chinese are not fit for self- 
government, whatever that may mean. Now such diplomatic tricks 
are highly mischievous. The analogy they try to impress upon the 
outside world is grossly misleading. The very fact that China is 
the only country that has 40 centuries of continuous history and 
civilization behind her bears eloquent testimony that she is capable 
of sustaining existence in spite of all odds. If the bloodless revolu- 
tion of 1911 which transformed her from a monarchy to a republic 

6 



shows us anything, it is this: the Chinese people have virile energy 
in them to adjust their nation to the world environment. Passing 
as she does through a hobbledehoy period, she is naturally experi- 
encing many hardships and encountering many obstacles. If allowed 
full liberty to do what she thinks is right and best for the good gov- 
ernment of the people, China will doubtless play an important role 
that is her due. 

Before leaving the fancied Japanese Monroe Doctrine, it is rer- 
tinent to call attention to Art XXI in the Paris Covenant for a League 
of Nations which provides as follows: "Nothing in this covenant 
shall be deemed to affect the validity of international engagements 
such as treaties of arbitration or regional understandings like the 
Monroe Doctrine for securing peace." One hardly knows what havoc 
such a meaningful phrase as "regional understandings" may play in 
the hands of Japanese statesmen. Because of "geographical pro- 
pinquity," they have already claimed "special interests" as recog- 
nized in the Lansing-Ishii notes. That they will assert their pet 
doctrine under Art. XXI is more than probable. To accept any such 
interpretation will mean the virtual abdication of the traditional 
Open Door Doctrine from the diplomatic throne of world politics. 

Were it not for the fact that China has been treated, as plainly 
shown in the Big Three's Shantung award, as a negligible quantity 
to be dealt with as whim or fancy may direct, the writer need 
scarcely point out that any settlement of the Chino-Japanese ques- 
tion that does not remove the root of the trouble will inevitably 
breed war. The Chinese people have suffered enough humiliation 
and injustice; they can no longer tolerate any more travesty of 
justice. The 400 millions are rising in a nation-wide protest against 
what the Parisian politicians euphemistically call "political expedi- 
ency." The latter have apparently neglected the teaching of the 
great Chinese sage who admonitioned : "Uphold the cause of the 
just and put down every cause that is unjust, and the people will 
submit. But uphold the cause of the unjust and put down every cause 
that is just, then the people will not submit." It is well for them 
to keep constantly in mind that the dove of peace builds its nest 
only in the haunts of justice. 

V 
The German menace — thank the Almighty — is at last gone; 
never to return, let us fervently pray. But in its place we see another 
one which is no less formidable than the one just gone by. The air 
is now humming with a new menace which is perhaps just as threat- 
ening as the one just past. That new menace on the international 
horizon, as one must come to the inescapable conclusion, is nothing 
but the luminous menace of the "Rising Sun." It is not a mere 
matter of accident that the Japanese menace should raise its head 

7 



in the Far East upon the complete shattering of the German menace; 
for is not the former the logical successor of the latter? 

With an unerring instinct to detect "sympathetic" evil and false- 
hood, the German ex-Kaiser painted for the edification of the Rus- 
sian monarch the picture of the Yellow Peril at the conclusion of the 
Chino-Japanese War of 1894-5. What William II had in mind was 
nothing but the approaching Japanese menace. We are now only be- 
ginning to realize the prophetic tone of his prescience. The only 
Yellow Peril is the "Yellow Hun," and not yellow journalism as the 
Japanese publicists would have us believe. Being obsessed with a 
militarism that out-Prussians the Prussian, Japan becomes in many 
respects more German than Germany herself. In the light of the 
foregoing analysis, can it be wondered that Japan is a burning menace 
to the world's peace? 

The writer should be wanting in justice if he fails to add at the 
consummation of this paper that Japan may yet succeed in a change 
of heart. The present extension of suffrage and the installation of a 
commoner cabinet under Premier Hara both point toward the rise 
of democracy in Japan. With this brightening prospect before us, 
we have every reason to hope that the militaristic itch may yet be 
removed and the bacillus of imperialism may still be blown out from 
the Japanese body politic. Instead of being a burning menace to the 
world's peace, Japan may become by one stroke an immense asset 
to the peace of the world. That is, the writer feels sure, the sincere 
prayer of everyone who looks upon the world not merely as a good 
American, European or anything you will, but also as "a citizen of 
the world," in the happy Goldsmithian phraseology, under the League 
of Nations. 



The Students' Strike 

An Explanation 



For the first time in the history of China a genuine democratic 
movement has appeared. The entire Chinese people has risen. No 
officials head this movement. No great men have attached their 
names to this cause. Spontaneously out of the schools, among boys 
and girls, among shop-keepers and merchants, among laborers and 
coolies, has arisen this historic defense of the rights of China, this 
demand for good government. 

On the anniversary of the Twenty-one Demands when the Chinese 
people were in mourning because of the shame their country had 
suffered at the hands of Japan, news arrived that China had been de- 
feated at the Paris Peace Conference. For months previous to this 
day, since the signing of the armistice, China had high hopes that 



she would have an opportunity to develop as a nation, that the 
wrongs which she had suffered from militarism while the nations of 
the world were fighting militarism in Europe would be righted. But 
now China was hopeless. In Peking was a government corrupt to the 
core. In one year it had borrowed £220,000,000.00 from Japan, ceding 
to her the richest resources of the land. Coal mines, iron mines, 
forests, future railroad rights, control of the army, control of finances, 
control of the few great industries of the country, having been thrown 
away for a mess of pottage. Great China, the land richest in re- 
sources, richest in man-power, richest in territory had become a 
plaything because of the militarism of Japan and the corruption of 
her own officials. 

The Manchus were driven out by a small band of intrepid revolu- 
tionists in league with enlightened officials. But the Chinese people 
took no part in the first revolution. The monarchist movement of 
Yuan shih-kai was killed by Peking officialdom. But the people of 
China were silent. Chang Hsun's attempted restoration of the Man- 
chus was squelched by the very officials who are betraying their 
country to-day. But the people took no interest. 

Since then a Great War has been fought in Europe. On the fields 
of France and Belgium the fairest sons of the great nations of the 
west had given their lives that democracy and justice might exist 
upon the earth. Throughout the world like the voice of a prophet has 
gone the word of Woodrow Wilson strengthening the weak and giv- 
ing courage to the struggling. And the Chinese people have listened 
and they too have heard. They have been told that their four- 
thousand year old doctrine that peace is the greatest of all aims 
of a nation has become the slogan of mankind. They have been told 
that in the dispensation which is to be made after the war unmilitar- 
istic nations like China would have an opportunity to develop their 
culture, their industry, their civilization, unhampered. They have 
been told that secret covenants and forced agreements would not 
be recognized. They looked for the dawn of this new Messiah; but 
no sun rose for China. Even the cradle of the nation was stolen. 

The masses of the people looked toward Peking. There they 
found only corruption and treason. They looked toward Paris. There 
they found that a compromise had to be made because of the injec- 
tion of the question of Fiume and racial discrimination. There is 
no hope there. They looked toward their own enlightened young 
men who had studied abroad. They found that they were inade- 
quately prepared to offer a practical plan to save the country. 
The merchants lacked initiative; they were looking for a leader. And 
the leadership came from school boys and school girls who were 
ready to sacrifice their future careers, liberty and life that China 
might continue to exist. The students of China refused to study, 
refused to participate in the usual affairs of life until China was 

9 



free. They clogged the machinery of the nation. They brought the 
issue to a head. They demanded immediate restitution of the rights 
of China and the immediate democratization of the government. 
These students were Chinese trained. They had never, most of them, 
left the country. They had not forgotten the nation in the glamour 
of foreign travel. Their cry was, "sell us, sell everything we have 
or may at any time have, but let the nation live." 

II 

Students of Shanghai spontaneously gathered in the Public Recre- 
ation ground, West Gate, on May 7. There was no pre-arranged pro- 
gram but before the meeting had proceeded very far it was clear that 
the students demanded the dismissal of the corrupt officials, the 
return of Tsingtau to China or effective guarantees by the Allied 
Nations that Japan would make such a return within a reasonable 
time, and that the Twenty-One Demands and other secret treaties 
written between the Peking militarists and the Japanese militarists 
would be renounced. 

Immediately the Shanghai Students' Union was organized. It 
consists of eighty-three schools in Shanghai and represents 20,000 
students, including 5,000 girls. 

Similar action was taken in Peking, Tientsin, Nanking, Hankow, 
Canton, Hangchow, Soochow, Ningpo and other cities in China. 

The Peking organization became particularly effective. Peking 
Government University has during the past year, under the guidance 
of its Chancellor, Tsai Yuen-pei and other enlightened professors 
become the intellectual centre of China. The democratization of the 
Chinese language, the development of a modern Chinese literature, 
the growth of political discussion centered about the Peking Govern- 
ment University. It was therefore only natural that the Students 
of this University should refuse to be associated with a government 
of treason. The Students of the Peking Government University 
were the first to strike for Chinese freedom. Mandarinlike the Gov- 
ernment looked upon this as a schoolboy prank. They threatened. 
They cajoled. They intimidated. They attempted to bribe. But 
the students would not return to their desks as long as Tsao Ju-lin, 
Chang Tsunghsiang, Little Hsu and the other traitors remained in 
power. Came a day when the students marched to the house of 
Tsao Ju-lin. They wanted to tell him that he ought to resign. Who 
should be in his house but the arch-traitor, China's Minister to Japan? 
And in their company was a Japanese. And on Tsao's wall was a 
portrait of the Mikado. The minds of the Students were inflamed. 
What new rascality was being hatched? What concession was being 
bargained away? What mine, what forest, what railroad was Japan 
stealing at that moment? The result is well known. Tsao Ju-lin 
ran away. Chang Tsung-hsiang was beaten almost to death. But 
much more important was the fact that this demonstration awakened 

10 



the entire student body of China to the fact that immediate action 
was necessary. In every city of China the students left their books 
and went out on strike. 

Ill 
What is it that they demand? 

1. First and foremost if China is ever to rise out of her present 
shameful condition every one of her sons must be taught that treason 
to his country is man's greatest crime. Chinese officialdom has grown 
up under the old Mandarin system in which corruption was not only 
tolerated but expected. The officials were poorly paid and they were 
to earn enormous incomes by robbing the country. "Under the Man- 
chus this system could prevail; in a republic it has no place. The 
Peking officials have not only sold the wealth of the country but 
they have betrayed her integrity. The worst enemies of China are 
not in Tokio but in Peking. Not only to avenge the wrongs that 
China has suffered must the traitors go, but to prevent the recurrence 
of treason, to inspire future generations, to set an example for the 
very boys and girls, the future fathers and mothers of China, who are 
now on strike, must they be driven out. The fate of the nation de- 
pends upon it and with this principle there can be no compromise. 

2. China demands that effective guarantees be secured from the 
Allied Governments that Tsingtau and the German rights in Shan- 
tung be returned to her immediately. Tsingtau was stolen from 
China by Germany. When China entered the war it was understood 
that this territory would be returned to her. When Japan prevented 
China from joining the Allies and captured Tsingtau she promised 
the Government of the United States that she would return the ter- 
ritory to China. The Peace Conference has maintained the princi- 
pal that territories forcefully seized and unjustly held shall be re- 
turned to the nation whose people inhabit them. 

The foreigner will say, "But Japan intends to return this terri- 
tory." China has suffered too long from Japan's intentions. China 
cannot accept a promise from Japan for it is like a whisper in the 
wind. China has been betrayed too often by her island neighbor to 
accept her covenant. She is a nation whose word is bankrupt. One 
need only think of Korea, of Formosa, of Manchuria, of Mongolia, 
and of Siberia, to realise the uselessness of a Japanese promise. 
Japan will never fully, truly, and completely return Tsingtau unless 
she is forced to do it by the nations of Western Europe. It is to 
avoid the bloodshed that might be entailed in this use of force that 
the students want effective guarantees made now that Japan will not 
be permitted to deceive China in this matter. 

3. The Students demand that the Twenty-One Demands shall be 
cancelled. They were agreed to by China under duress. When the 
nations of the western world were at war, Japan sneaked in like a 
thief in the night and demanded that China give up her sovereign 

11 



rights. An ultimatum of war was made. What could China have done 
at that time but to agree to Japan's proposal, made at the point of the 
bayonet? But these demands cannot be acceded to. China can never 
agree to the Twenty-One Demands. Until every one of them has been 
cancelled, China will always be in a state of turmoil. For the peace 
of Asia, of the world, they must be expunged from history. 

4. The Students demand that freedom of speech and of the 
press shall be preserved as an inalienable right of citizens of the 
republic. To secure this right the Students desire that the Constitu- 
tion of China shall be completed and this right included. 

IV 

To secure these rights the Students have adopted the principle 
of passive resistance. They are unable to fight against the Peking 
militarists and enough blood has already been spilled in China. There 
is no ballot in this country. The only thing that could be done was 
to strike, peacefully, quietly, but effectively. To strengthen them- 
selves the Students joined with merchants, bankers and laborers, 
so that if the moment arose when everything else should fail and 
it became absolutely necessary to force the hand of the Peking mil- 
itarists there would be unanimity of aim and action in China. Such 
unanimity exists to-day. 

The shops are shut. The banks have closed their doors. The 
schools are without pupils. Labor is on strike. Can any Government 
continue to exist in the presence of the unanimous will of the people 
of the country that the Government should cease to be? 

The co-operation of all elements has been secured because every- 
body in China feels that it is not a question of political party, of 
social status, of economic condition. Today China must decide 
whether she becomes a tributary of Japan or an independent na- 
tion. And on that question there is no division of opinion. Four 
hundred million heads are ready to fall before China will become ser- 
vile to the Huns of the East. 
Allied Friends of China: 

Your statesmen are at this moment sitting in Paris trying to mete 
out justice to the nations of the world. Your sons, your brothers, 
are lying on the fields of France and Belgium, in the hills of Italy, 
in the distant snows of Russia to preserve democracy and justice. 
You have established the principle that militarism shall not prevail. 
You have given all of your strength to destroy imperialism. 

Will you not sympathize with China when she is trying to do in 
her way what you have done in Europe? China is confronted with 
the same problem that faced you in 1914. The enemy is at her door. 
Peacefully, but through trickery the enemy is penetrating into the 
heart of the country. Already she controls the Government in Peking, 
the northern provinces from the Siberian frontier to the Yellow 
River, the island of Formosa and the province of Fukien. Her ad- 

12 



vance in the Yangtsze Valley is as great as it is appalling. If she 
be permitted to take Shantung what is left to the people of China? 

But the danger is as great for you as it is for China. You have 
come here honestly to trade and to teach. One need not recite all 
the crimes that Japan has committed against you in China. You 
know them well. She has damaged your goods, forged your labels, 
opened your letters, broken every rule of honest competition. But 
do you need more proof of what will happen to you in a Nipponized 
China than what has already happened in Korea, Manchuria, and 
Formosa. Your missionaries have already been expelled from Tsing- 
tau. Your business will go next. 

The Students are now fighting your battle. If they fail now 
you will have to take up the war against militarism in the East 
sooner or later. You can prevent their failure by sympathizing with 
their cause, by bringing pressure on your government immediately to 
return Tsingtau to China. The students are sacrificing themselves 
for you as well as for China. Won't you help them to destroy the 
Hun of the East? 

[Beginning from May 4, 1919, there has been a nation-itride boy- 
cott against Japanese goods. We publish this article as an evidence of 
the real feeling back of this movement. — Ed] 

China's Official Appeal To The United 
States Senate. 

The representatives of China at Paris have appealed by cable to 
the United States Senate against the decision of the Peace Conference 
regarding the award of German claims in Shanttmg to Japan. As a 
matter of record and reference this important protest should be printed 
widely by the press, inasmch as, under Senate rules regarding unani- 
mous consent, it could not be printed in the Congressional Record. This 
protest on behalf of China is transmitted under the signature of Eugene 
Chen for the Chinese delegation at Paris. The text follows: 

Important meeting representative of Chinese assembled at Paris 
decided to appeal to Senate to assist in securing revision of Shantung 
settlement by speedily passing resolution affirming same to be incon- 
sistent with national honor and interests of America besides incredi- 
ble injustice to China and danger to world peace. 

President's counsel finally brought about China's entrance into 
war. On him as trustee of American honor China rested hope of set- 
tlement enabling her to live untrammelled and unthreatened by Jap 
anese imperialism. August 14, 1917, China declared war. American 
and Allied governments assured her of their solidarity, friendship and 
support and promised "to do all that rests with them to ensure that 
China shall enjoy in her international relations a position and a regard 

13 



due to a great country." Proposed settlement is a denial of this and 
a violation of well denned aim of American foreign policy. Apart 
from Monroe Doctrine America committed nowhere except in China 
through the Hay Doctrine of the Open Door with its necessary guaran- 
tee of territorial integrity and political independence of China. Doc- 
trine confirmed in Root-Takahira agreement reaffirmed by Lansing-Ishii 
agreement which introduced, according to a statement issued by Lans- 
ing 6th November 1917: "principal of non-interference with sovereign- 
ty and territorial integrity of China which generally applied is es- 
sential to perpetual peace as clearly declared by President Wilson 
and which is the very foundation also of Pan-Americanism as inter- 
preted by this Government." This principle of noninterference was 
stated in terms denying that American and Japan had "any purpose 
to infringe in any way on the independence or territorial integrity of 
China" and also in terms declaring that "they are opposed to the 
acquisition by any government of any special rights or privileges that 
v/ould affect the independence or territorial integrity of China or 
that would deny the subjects or citizens of any country full enjoyment 
and equal opportunity in the commerce and industry of China." 

The proposed settlement of the Shantung question is a direct vio- 
lation of this principle and nothing better established than the German 
system as to Shantung which included or later consisted of special 
rights and privileges that affected the independence and the territorial 
integrity of China besides denying the subjects of other countries 
the full enjoyment of equal opportunity in the commerce and industry 
of China in the province of Shantung. Despite these precise provisions 
of the Lansing-Ishii agreement and the notorious character of the 
German servitude of Shantung, the American member of the Council 
of Three has consented to the inclusion in the Peace Treaty of two 
special articles drafted by the Japanese granting more than originally 
asked of China and providing that all German rights in Shantung 
"are and remain acquired by Japan free and acquitted of all charges." 
This injustice is more glaring when it is remembered that rights 
whose acquisition by Japan is ordered by the Council of Three ceased 
to exist since China declared war on the 14th of August, 1917. In 
the Chinese declaration of war "all treaties of whatever nature between 
China and Germany" are expressly abrogated. Notice of abrogation 
was given to America and the Allied powers and none questioned the 
validity of this act of abrogation 

Such a settlement is also opposed to world interests because a 
Pan-Asiatic solution of the' Chinese question is rendered a certainty. 
Chinese question involves the issue of whether the manpower and re- 
sources of China are to be developed in the interest of the world and 
human progress or are to be exploited and used for selfish and Asiatic 
ends. If China is free to cooperate with America and the West, the 
Chinese question will be solved in the interests of the world as a 

14 



whole. If China is prevented from developing in cooperation with 
the West, the Chinese question will be solved in the sense desired 
by the Pan-Asiatics under the political and military leadership of 
Japan. Pan-Asiatic development of China is inevitable if the policy 
embodied in the twenty-one demands continues in operation. The 
dominant feature of this policy is Japan's claim to be the beneficiary 
of German ruthlessness in Shantung. As one of the Allied Associated 
States China has been claiming that the destruction of the German 
system cannot be limited to Europe, Africa and the Pacific, but must 
be extended to the Far East. But the proposed Shantung settlement 
perpetuates the German system in China in circumstances which re- 
sult in grave and added danger because it replaces Germany whose 
strength is based on Europe by Japan at the very threshold of China. . . 

Korean claim tabulates series of facts showing that this Japanese 
world conquest has already found expression inter alia Japan's two 
successful wars against China and Russia which have made her the 
greatest military power in Asia in much the same way that Prussia's 
two wars against Austria and France made her the greatest military 
power in Europe; the annexation of Korea and the Japanese posses- 
sion of the South Sea Islands north of the Equator bring Japan nearly 
two thousand miles closer to Australia, giving Japanese navy base 
dominating practically the entire land areas of the Pacific. The grow- 
ing subjection of China to Japanese domination through the same 
methods made the annexation of Korea, in spite of solemn treaties, a 
"political necessity." This process of subjection will be powerfully 
assisted by the proposed Shantung settlement which will enable Japan 
to entrench herself in a vitally strategic area in Intramural China, 
just as she has already entrenched herself outside the Great Wall in 
South Manchuria through which lies the quite historic road of in- 
vasion into China. In the past Asiatic invaders have entered China 
from the North and it was through the Manchuria Gate that the last 
invaders crossed into the great plains of northern China. 

It is said that China had to be abandoned in the belief that the 
President's insistence on a just settlement of the Shantung question 
might have wrecked the conference and destroyed the League. But this 
event was only a possibility. Great Britain reversing her policy for 
an Anglo-Saxon Entente and aligning herself definitely with Japan 
against America in China where Anglo American interests are faced 
by Japan's aggressive rivalry. 

Also said "the whole future relationship between China and Japan 
will fall under guarantee of the League regarding territorial integrity 
and political independence." But if the Senate opposes Article Ten or 
otherwise the same forces that enabled Japan to triumph today may 
be expected to enable her to triumph in China though the League 
exists. This is almost a certainty in view of China's exclusion from 
the Executive Council of the League, despite strong Chinese expecta- 

15 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




020 914 608 3 • 

tion that the President would secure China representative smaa y ^., 

ers Asia one of the four seats allotted small powers of the world. 

The covenant of the League shows it is impossible for Japan to 
contend that her consent is necessary before China could submit 
twenty-one demands set forth in the treaties and notes 1915 for the 
consideration of the League under Article 19 

Holding fast faith in America, we appeal to your Senate to say 
that the decision of the Council of Three against China shall not be 
ratified by the American people in Congress assembled for the reason 
set f^rth herein and because it involves the violation of the pledged 
word of the American Government to China and the chief if not only 
aim of American foreign policy outside the Americas; from this view 
therefore the equitable settlement of the Shantung question is as much 
a war aim of America as of China; and the only fair and just settle- 
ment of the existing circumstances is that all Germany's rights in 
Shantung acquired by the council of prime ministers be referred to 
the League for disposal according to the findings of an international 
commission appointed by the conference after visiting Shantung and 
investigating the situation on the spot. 

NOTICE 
Copies will be given free on application. Address to The Publicity 
Bureau of the Chinese Students in the University of Illinois, 204 E. 
John Street, Champaign, Illinois. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS^ 

020 914 608 3 



